Exodus 23 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Exodus 23:1-9  

1 ‘Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.

2 ‘Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, 3 and do not show favouritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.

4 ‘If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. 5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.

6 ‘Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. 7 Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.

8 ‘Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.

9 ‘Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

A. Find Out:

1. How were they not to pervert truth? v.1
2. How were they not to pervert justice? v.2,3
3. In what two ways were they to show mercy? v.4,5
4. What further 3 ways are they not to pervert justice? v.6,7
5. What further were they not to do and why? v.8
6. How were they to act in respect of aliens and why? v.9 

B. Think:

1. What, in your understanding, is injustice?
2. How do these laws work against that?
3. How is mercy seen as caring and kindness here?

C. Comment:

      These laws recognise that things will go wrong in community life, there will be disagreements, there will be appealing to the courts, and so a number of these particular laws relate to what should happen in such disputes. For God, truth is important. Perverting the truth in any way in respect of such disputes is injustice.

      Therefore, false reports and false testimony (v.1) are forbidden. Indeed letting public opinion sway you from the truth (v.2) and being biased for or against those in court, is forbidden. Excluding people from the judicial process because they cannot afford it (v.6) denies them the opportunity for the truth. False charges (v.7) deny the truth, and mishandling a case so the innocent are made guilty (v.7) also denies the truth. Justice is ascertaining the truth in disputes and acting accordingly. Thus bribes (v.8) work against the truth being brought out and are therefore forbidden.     

Working against someone simply because they are a foreigner (v.9) denies them truth. Israel should know better – they have been aliens in Egypt! Denying truth denies care for people and caring is behind all of God’s laws. Caring should be extended even to those who you don’t get on with (v.4,5) and if you find yourself with an opportunity to help those you would consider an enemy (v.4) or someone who hates you (v.5), then take it. 

D. Application:

1. Are we concerned and moved by the need for truth?
2. Are we concerned and moved by compassion?

Passage: Exodus 23:10-13

10 ‘For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unploughed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

12 ‘Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.

13 ‘Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.

A. Find Out:

1. What are they to do for the seventh year? v.10,11a
2. What can then happen? v.11b
3. What are they to do on the seventh day? v.12a
4. Why? 12b,c
5. What are they to do? v.13a
6. What are they not to do? v.13b

B. Think:

1. How do these laws have very practical caring aspects to them?
2. Read Mark 2:27. What was Jesus’ comment on the Sabbath?

C. Comment:

     The use of the “Sabbath” brings together reverence for God, with His very practical caring for man. The fourth commandment (Ex 20:8) was to make the seventh day holy, or different, by not working on it. As a command immediately following three about God, and coming before the practical commands about man, it seems to be a caring for man while at the same time thinking of God.

     First of all here, the law is about having a year off work. This would have been a real act of faith because it would mean waiting two years for harvest supply. Several points are worth noting here. It is suggested that leaving the land for a year increases its fertility, .i.e. wise use of land. Some have suggested it was calculated from when a person received the land, which meant staggered Sabbaths across the land. Care for the poor and for the environment generally (animals in particular) are also seen as purposes in God’s mind.

     Then we come to the more usual aspect of the Sabbath, a rest on the seventh day. Again the emphasis here is on the workers (including animals) having a much needed rest and being refreshed. Resting up from work would have meant it was a great communal day, as people had opportunity to get together in relaxation, as well as to specifically remember the Lord together. Societies that do not do this have lost much. This is God’s wisdom and we reject it at our peril.

D. Application:

1. Again, care and concern is in God’s mind in these laws.
2. God designs His world. He knows the best way for it (us) to work.

Passage: Exodus 23:14-19

14 ‘Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

15 ‘Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

‘No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

16 ‘Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.

‘Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

17 ‘Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.

18 ‘Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.

‘The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.

19 ‘Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

‘Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

A. Find Out:

1. What was the first feast and how long was it to last? v.15a,b
2. How and when were they to do it and why? v.15c,d
3. What was the second feast? v.16a,19
4. What was the third feast? v.16b
5. Who was to do what at these times? v.17
6. How were they to bring the offerings? v.18,19b

B. Think:

1. What does the word ‘feast’ suggest to you?
2. What therefore is the sense behind these instructions?
3. How are they each linked to the Lord?

C. Comment:

     If we’ve had a religious upbringing then perhaps a feast simply indicates a particular festival in the church’s calendar. However, a dictionary defines a feast as “to eat sumptuously” and the sense is of a big meal. You have a big meal when you have something to celebrate and that was true of Israel .

     The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven-day feast that reminded the Israelites of their coming out of Egypt. They had been instructed by God to prepare by making their bread without yeast or leaven. The idea there is that yeast takes time to rise, and the Exodus happened so quickly that they did not have time to sit around waiting for the bread to rise. Bread without yeast was a reminder, therefore, of that time of hasty preparation and God’s miraculous deliverance. By this feast, the Lord wanted them never to forget their origins – delivered!

     At the Feast of Harvest, they took some of the first fruits of their crops and presented them to the Lord, a declaration that God is the great provider, and the crops therefore first belong to Him. The Feast of Ingathering was a rejoicing over the crops that had been safely gathered in and provision therefore made for the coming year. In each case it was a time of major rejoicing over the Lord’s provision for them. For comments about the offerings see the following note.

D. Application:

1. Are we aware that our provision comes from God’s grace?
2. Are we therefore thankful?

SPECIAL NOTE : Offerings & Exodus 23:18  

    These are the first instructions in respect of the offerings, and in the Law there are many more. Previously there was a brief note about bringing “burnt offerings” and “fellowship offerings” (Ex 20:24) Burnt Offerings    The requirement was that two lambs were to be sacrificed daily, burnt on the altar, one in the morning and one in the evening (see Ex 29:38-42). There the context is consecration and the holiness of Israel before God. The offering was burnt completely – possibly a reminder of the lamb given at Passover, and of course, our Lamb, Jesus (Jn 1:29, Rev 5:6). Fellowship Offerings    The fellowship or peace offering was an indication of peace between Israel and God, and the fellowship that existed between them. In this offering, part of the animal was burnt (given to God) and part was eaten by the person offering it, a symbol of God and man sharing the beast together. Yeast     As we indicated in the main notes, yeast took time to rise within the dough. Yeast is therefore symbolic of the world’s laid back, relaxed attitude, over religion. It came to by symbolic of sin, of man’s indifference. Although Jesus later used it to illustrate the quiet way his kingdom grew (Mt 13:13), he also used it in the more traditional sense (Mt 16;6,11) Blood.     Blood represents life (Lev 17:11). Thus blood being shed was a sign of the giving of a life to bring redemption. All of this side of the sacrifices points towards the work of Christ on the Cross (see the book of Hebrews). Thus ‘sin’ (symbolically) was not to be mixed with the ‘life’ (symbolically) being offered in the sacrificial offerings. Fat     The fat of the inner organs was never to be eaten but given to God (Lev 3:16). It was symbolic of the life and well-being of the animal. If it was kept overnight it would go rancid and so had to be burned (given to God) on the day of the sacrifice.

Passage: Exodus 23:20-26

20 ‘See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away disease from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

A. Find Out:

1. Who was God sending to do what? v.20
2. What were they to do, and why? v.21
3. What will the Lord do if they listen? v.22
4. How will that work out in practice? v.23
5. What were they to do in respect of their idols? v.24
6. What were they to do in respect of God & what would He do? v.25a
7. What further will happen as a result? v.25b,26

B. Think:

1. What appears the role of an angel here?
2. What is the link between him and God?
3. How, therefore, were Israel to respond to the angel?

C. Comment:

      The word for angel here could also be simply translated, ‘messenger’. It could therefore refer to a member of the angelic host, it could refer to Moses, or it could refer to the pillar of fire. These are all options suggested by commentators through the years.

      The call to Israel is to follow this messenger and listen to him and obey him, for he comes as God’s representative. As with all calls to obedience there is linked to it an outcome; the Lord will oppose those who oppose Israel and when they go into the Promised Land, He will destroy all the occupants of that land.

      Then comes an instruction as to what to do when they enter that land: destroy all the idols and ensure they don’t take on the heathen practices of the occupants. Instead of worshipping man-made things they are to worship the Lord alone. Again, with obedience comes an outcome: the Lord will bless their food and water and will grant them heath and wholeness so they will be free of sickness. Good health and long life are God’s promise of blessing on their lives if they obey all He says to them. What an amazing promise in a world that is so often full of sickness and infirmity. Being part of Israel wasn’t just obeying commands, it was also receiving the blessings!

D. Application:

1. God’s commands have very real, practical consequences – good!
2. God designed us. God knows best how we work!

Passage: Exodus 23:27-33

27 ‘I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

31 ‘I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. 32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.’

A. Find Out:

1. What did the Lord say He would do? v.27,28
2. What would He not do, and why? v.29
3. How would He do it? v.30
4. What was the extent of the land? v.31
5. What were they do in respect of the inhabitants and why? v.31b-33

B. Think:

1. What was the Lord’s strategy for taking over the land?
2. What was Israel’s part in it?
3. What was the greatest danger for them?

C. Comment:

      In verses 27 to 30 we find the Lord’s strategy for clearing the land. First of all He will bring fear on the inhabitants who stand before Israel, and that will melt their hearts so that they will flee before Israel. How will He do that? We don’t know but perhaps He just whispered into their minds and stirred terror of this massive force coming to take over this land. However, He will not do it all in one go or the land will be emptied before Israel have time to move in and the wild animals would take over. No, instead He will do it in small stages so that they will fall back as Israel come, and Israel can take over the land without the land being left fallow. It will also allow Israel to increase in numbers, increase in strength and increase in courage – in stages.

      Verses 31 to 33 declare the extent of the land the Lord is giving to them, together with a serious warning. It is essential that Israel completely clear out all the idol-worshipping pagans who habit the land at the present. If they do not, the danger is that they will accept and even take on those practices of false idol worship themselves, and lose the reality of their relationship with the Lord. Although this may sound mundane to us and we may wonder how such a thing could happen, this was in fact, the greatest threat to the future existence of Israel. It did turn out in the years to follow to be THE thing that undermined Israel and eventually led to their exile. This was a critical instruction ignored.

D. Application:

1. God goes ahead of His people in the battles He chooses for them.
2. Separation to God is a critical issue for the people of God.